


The Curiosities Shop

by humantales



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Torchwood
Genre: Alien Artifacts, Gen, Ghosts, aliens are real, ghosts are real
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-11
Updated: 2011-12-11
Packaged: 2021-03-03 22:53:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,757
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24523393
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/humantales/pseuds/humantales
Summary: You say tomato; I say tomahto. Captain Jack Harkness meets Luna Lovegood.Prompt: “Ghosts aren’t real.”
Kudos: 5
Collections: Crossover Exchange 2011





	The Curiosities Shop

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Caitriona_3](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Caitriona_3/gifts).



As he tramped through the rubbish-strewn back streets, Captain Jack Harkness swore under his breath. As leader, and sole member, of Torchwood Three, anything unusual in Wales came under his authority. Unless, of course, those in charge of Torchwood London wanted it, in which case, Jack would find himself fighting an ultimately losing battle of jurisdiction. Sometimes, with cases like today, he wished he could just cede the control to the larger, well-manned organisation, but that would lose him the little control he'd managed to gain.

No one was dead, at least, not yet, but there were enough reports of something odd that Jack knew he needed to investigate. He left the alley and turned into the shop in which all of the incidents had happened.

"I just opened," Mrs Pugh, a tiny woman with brown eyes wide with distress, said. "Thought a thrift shop might do well here. And it would, except for the ghosts."

"Ghosts aren't real," Jack said, almost automatically. "Can you describe exactly what happens?"

Mrs Pugh shrugged. "Someone'll pick up something and a ghost'll appear and tell how it died. Not everything, thank God, or I'd already be closed, but enough."

Jack looked around the shop. Except for Mrs Pugh, himself, and a young blonde woman whose attention was focused on a long purple velvet skirt, the shop was empty of people. It was mostly clothing here, with plenty of kitchen wares, books and other assorted items. Jack glanced down at his wrist strap, which was running a scan, but didn't see anything out of the ordinary. "I don't see anything haunted," he said.

The owner glared at him. "Of course not; I don't leave them out. This way." She led him behind the counter into the back and to a closed door. "Everything that's caused trouble is in there," she said, shuddering. "Can you help? I've thought of asking a priest, but the one I know is English."

"I'll do what I can," Jack said. Once Mrs Pugh had returned to the front of the shop, Jack sighed and walked into the store room.

The items in the store room were the same types of things that were in the front. Jack didn't see anything distinguishing the two groups, and there were enough different items in the store room that he didn't think it was someone trying to get a bargain. A quick scan with his wrist strap didn't identify anything either. No energies different in the store room than in the rest of the store. Nothing psychic or alien, although it was picking up something in the back.

"You're wrong, you know," a female voice came from behind him.

Jack turned to find himself facing the young woman from the shop. "Are you supposed to be back here?" he asked. After all, she could have been an assistant Mrs Pugh had hired.

"Probably not," the young woman said, her voice unconcerned. "I just wanted you to know. Ghosts are real." She wandered into the store room and picked up a heavy coat.

Although Jack had had the phenomenon explained to him, he hadn't been expecting to see the translucent form of a young man fly out of the coat and reach toward the young woman, his hands aimed at her throat. Without blinking an eye, she pulled a stick out of her pocket, flicked it at the apparition, and said something that wasn't English at it. The image dispersed, but the store room still felt a little cold.

With a nod of what appeared to be satisfaction, she put the stick away. "Luna Lovegood," she said, holding out her hand. She had protuberant eyes that seemed to be focused on something far away. Under most circumstances, Jack would assume she was high, but her words and actions had been calm and precise.

"Captain Jack Harkness," he replied, shaking her hand and giving her his best smile.

She returned the handshake with a firm one of her own, and the smile with an unfocused, misty one. "He didn't seem to be a normal ghost. What do you think?"

"Ghosts aren't real," Jack repeated. His wriststrap didn't see anything unusual about the coat, but there was a low-level field of some kind. He couldn't identify it any further than that, but it seemed to be stronger in the back of the store room. "There does seem to be something back here," he said as he moved toward it, Luna right on his heels. As soon as she cleared the door, it slammed shut behind them. Jack swore under his breath and tried to get past Luna to get to the door. As he did, he wondered if Luna might have something to do with it.

"I don't have anything to do with what's happening," she said, "nor do you. And the door is very locked," she said, after pointing her stick and saying something at the lock.

After several minutes of trying everything he could think of other than trying to break down the door, Jack decided to see if he couldn't find the source of the energy field. Luna moved out of his way without complaining, but stayed right on his heels. "Look, Luna," he said. "This could be dangerous. Why don't you stay right by the door while I find this thing? I don't want you to get hurt while I'm doing my job," he continued so they wouldn't have to have the argument about a woman being just as good as a man. True as it might be, she wasn't trained.

"I think that might be my line," she said, not moving from behind him. "I'll let you be in front since it seems to be where you want to be, but I'm here to stop the ghosts from bothering people."

"Have you ever seen a ghost?" Jack asked.

"Yes," she answered calmly. She paused for a minute, thinking. I think I really only ever saw them at school, but that's all you need to know they exist, isn't it?"

"Describe one of these ghosts you saw at school," Jack said. He was getting curious now.

"There was the Grey Lady," Luna said. "She was our House's ghost. Her real name was Helena Ravenclaw and she had a long, sad story. She helped my friend, Harry, destroy the Dark Lord. What else did you want to know?"

Jack stared at her. She was clearly insane, but she didn't sound mad. Of course, she didn't sound entirely connected to reality, either. Not sure what else to say, he said, "Nothing for the moment," and went back to his search for the energy source.

It took almost an hour to fight their way through the crowded storage room and sift through the items on the back wall. When Jack finally pulled it out, he felt himself shudder. The small lozenge-shaped object looked innocuous, even pleasant, but a Gretzian Intensifier was anything but pleasant. "We're lucky," Jack started to say, but then stopped. "This is attached to the objects, not the people," he said out loud, thinking it through.

"Yes," Luna said, "everyone agrees on that. What is it? I've never seen anything like that before."

"It's alien," Jack said. "It intensifies people's emotions, negative ones, but inanimate objects wouldn't register on it." He scanned it with his wriststrap again. The Intensifier's energy field was marked as malfunctioning, but how could it react to objects?

"Where are the Gretzians from?" Luna asked. "And what would they use this for?"

Jack looked up sharply. Up until now, she sounded interested, but vague. Her voice had sharpened with that last question, and hardened. She was scowling at the Intensifier, and she had her stick out again. Jack felt a cold thrill run up his back. "They're from a planet on the other side of the galaxy," he said, picking his words, "and they use them for torture. Not nice people, the Gretzians."

"Oh, I'm sure some of them are very nice," Luna said, smiling again. "Why would they be pulling people's ghosts out of their old things?"

Jack felt like hitting his head. "Of course," he said. "Emotional resonances. The Intensifier is malfunctioning, and it's picking up the remnants of emotional resonances from emotionally intense experiences." Now that he understood what was going on, he could just destroy the Intensifier and head back to the Hub. "Thanks for your help, Luna. I can take it from here."

"That's okay. Would you prefer it to stop working or can I just destroy it?" She had her stick out and was pointing it at the Intensifier.

"Er, how would you destroy it?" Jack asked, looking at that stick. "It's probably for the best." He'd been planning on taking it back to the Hub and incinerating it.

"Like this," Luna said, pointing her stick and saying another word. The Intensifier flew into a thousand pieces. "Has it stopped?"

Jack scanned the store room; the energy field was gone. "What is that thing?" he asked.

Luna held up her stick. "This? It's my wand, magic is real and so are ghosts." She twirled the wand and vanished. A minute later, the store room door opened. "Mrs Pugh," she called, "I think you need to have this door fixed. It sticks."

Mrs Pugh rushed back. After fluttering about, fretting about Jack and Luna being stuck in the store room, Jack said, "You shouldn't have any more apparitions, and you can bring the things out of the store room."

"They weren't really ghosts," Luna said. "They were a malfunctioning alien thing. How much for this?" She'd picked up a stack of things that she appeared to have left on the counter when she'd gone into the back.

The next several minutes were taken up with the business transaction. Jack waited until they were out of the store to say, "How about a coffee? There's a shop two blocks down."

"No thank you," Luna said. "It's been very instructive, but I need my memory for it to stay so. So do you, even if the Ministry does frown on leaving Muggles with memories of magic. It was very nice to meet you; I hope we meet again someday. Goodbye." She waved her stick and vanished.

Jack blinked. After a few minutes, he shrugged. "There are more things on Heaven and Earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy," he quoted to himself as he headed back to the Hub, whistling and not caring if the quote was accurate or not.

-END-


End file.
